What type of house would you never buy?

[PinterandPirandello]

Just looking at a thread where properties are being recommended for £750k. One of the houses was completely open plan downstairs which we would hate as a family. Dh likes to sit at the kitchen table and have the radio on (loudly), dc like to game and I like to watch telly in peace. Plus the dishwasher and washing machine on. So we prefer at least a couple of separate rooms. However, I can see open plan could work with small kids but I’d still want private space.

Another thing. Low ceilings and beams.
beams are a dust magnet and oppressive.
Agree about not buying an ex smokers house. We did once without knowing. The yellow muck on the walls just wouldn’t shift entirely even when totally redecorated. Never again.

Learnt my lesson ...

I moved into an 80's bungalow post divorce Intended as a temporary move. Still there 15ys later, built a rear extension with bi folds opening out to my small south facing garden (instead of the default plastic conservatory), created vaulted ceilings in old lounge/new diner/bedroom2 with veluxes. Love it now, all the butterflies and birds fly into my new lounge in the summer. Good light is essential for healthy living.

One without sunlight.
One on a main road / busy road.
One south of the Scottish border.

E
The roof needs replacing every 10 years. What a hassle.

No it doesn't - they last around 40 years (water reed type). We redid half ours in 2020 and it was last done in the 1980s. You do need to reridge every 10 to 15 years but that's only a very small part of the roof. There aren't grants for it anymore and vat was added (exempt before). It theoretically needs listed buildings consent but that's free and very quick - took a month. Thatcher did have an 18 month waiting list and doing it in 2020 was interesting with lockdown.

Some bungalows do have stairs

I had my bedroom with large en-suite and a separate office upstairs

Exh did end up sleeping downstairs because he broke his leg falling down them.

@FairKoala , they usually only have one floor. The ones with stairs are dormer bungalows.

Never on an estate. Also, controversially, no to ex council(long story, I always grimaced when we drove past it after we moved.)
Nothing from 1950 until building regs came in 2000s unless detached.
Must have- driveway,porch, separate hallway to front room, pre WW2 or older.

A house on a quiet street with lots of quiet neighbours.

I want quiet if it's also empty space.

I find long terraced streets of houses facing each other oppressive. We bought on a main road near two schools, and at least it feels alive!

Having said that, we won't buy on a main road again because you don't know when some prat in the local planning office is going to ruin your life.

I grew up in a house on a main road, a B road and the M1 was at the bottom of the garden.
You could see the motorway bridge at the bottom of the road from my bedroom window.
If you have adequate double glazing and it's set back from the road it's not that a big issue. The quietest room was at the back of the house(long garden). Miss that house so much but it was big, the next door house is slightly smaller inside but same front and back and I'd buy that if I could. Older pre war build though. Jelsons, who still exist.

I would also like something like that, at my time of life. When see properties 'fully renovated' I cringe because there will be grey everywhere, including kitchen units, bathrooms etc and oftener than not there will be no bath, just a big shower. You can't have a lovely long leisurely bath, at least 2 chapters of a book and maybe even a glass of something in a shower. So many now have only showers in every bathroom. Factoring in putting these houses right, ie paint throughout, new kitchen and bathroom, restore at least 1 bath makes them prohibitively expensive.

It would cost about £25k for a fairly average sized roof too.

More than that. Ours was £34k cash but that was 10 years ago

Ours was £27k in 2020 but about 3/4s of the roof, we have a lot of roof and it lasts 40 years. Ours was invoiced. There are different thatching materials and some areas of the country use materials which are cheaper but don't last as long. Obviously depends on roof size. Took about 1.5 months of thatching work but as it was 2020 they chose to never enter our house and bring their own toilet. Lovely to see their excellent craftsmanship, very talented and was excellent value for money considering materials and work involved. Probably £40k for a whole roof but once every 40 years for a house with a biggish roof and using the longest lasting type of thatch.

That £27k included the reridging which is once every 10 to 15 years, that was about £6k of it. Actually by MN standards we probably have a small roof but we do have a lot of roof.

I would never buy a property without a drive / its own off road parking. Also not too close to pylons etc

A town house or a chalet bungalow are two styles I would never entertain because I just don’t like them .

I could never live in a flat, it’d be too stressful with the noise. I’d be so self conscious about not being a bad neighbour that I’d never get anything done.
Also somewhere that didn’t have a driveway or a dedicated parking space right outside the house would be a dealbreaker for me. A residents’ car park across the road isn’t good enough.

How I hate the grey everything. It’s standard in new builds and renovations and I really can’t understand why. I hate grey.

no it doesn’t

It lasts for 40 years and what it costs on the extra amount for the roof it more than makes up for on the reduced heating bills

Last house (rental) I lived in was all electric single skin 1980s built on an estate and the heating bills for a house that was never warm were extortionate

£600 per month and we froze

I would never live in a house that had its fuel bills from Ovo.

I know I could change it but I lived with this company supplying my fuel for 18 months and have spent the last 4 years getting bills from them for what I apparently “owe”

A new build. Never! A mews. We’re both very tall people.

Sorry just replying!

our sitting room is on the first floor and is the full width. It’s quite big, it has 4/5 double bedrooms.

We have a pool and have never regretted it! The maintenance costs were not as much as we thought and it does need leaves scooping out (and we have a robot hoover thing that cleans up the bottom of it) but the benefits outweigh the cons. In the summer at least! It’s closed up for winter of course. Just a shame we often don’t have enough sunny days to enjoy it. It was a godsend during the 40 degree heatwave we had.